ORIGINAL ARTICLE JIACM 2009; 10(1 & 2): 23-6 * Intern, ** Additional Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal. Prevalence of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease Sarathi Kalra*, Pralhad Sharma*, Acharya Pranab Sharma*, Sanjib Sharma** Abstract Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global health problem. Patients with CKD have accelerated atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common cause of death in them. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of risk factors for CVD in patients with CKD. Material and methods: A nested case control study was conducted in patients evaluated for CKD over a period of 8 weeks attending the Renal Disease Prevention Clinic of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal. A total of 84 subjects (42 cases and 42 controls) were enrolled by convenient sampling method. The data collected were entered and analysed by SPSS, and odds ratios were calculated. Results: The mean age for cases and controls was 53.3 (SD ± 13.7) and 51.5 (SD ± 16.1) years respectively, and both groups were sex-matched. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and smoking was higher among the cases (OR = 1.67, 2.16 and 3.67 respectively). Duration of diabetes and hypertension was longer in cases as compared to the controls. Besides this, smoking was more common in patients of CKD as compared to controls (OR = 3.67). The cases having sedentary lifestyle and haemoglobin level less than 12 g/dl were 54.8% and 55.2% respectively as compared to 43.6% and 21.1% in controls (OR = 1.5 and 4.0 respectively). Of the cases, 63.6% had altered lipid profile. Patients with CKD had a higher waist-to-hip ratio as compared to the controls. Conclusion: Patients with CKD have higher prevalence of risk factors for CVD. Key words: Cardiovascular disease, risk factors, chronic kidney disease. Introduction Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide public health problem. It is associated with significantly increased morbidity and mortality. Data show that approximately 40to75%ofpatientsstartingdialysistherapyalreadyhave manifestations of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and it accounted for 40% of subsequent deaths in these patients 1,2 . Based on such data, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Task Force has made the recommendation that patients with CKD should be considered in the highest risk group for the development of subsequent cardiovascular events 3 . Various studies have shown that this increased cardiovascular risk begins quiteearlyduringthecourseofrenalinsufficiency 4 . CVDriskfactorsinvolvedinCKDmaybeclassifiedaseither traditional (viz. hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia, smoking, positive family history) or uraemia-related [viz. albuminuria, anaemia, oxidative stress, hyperhomocysteinaemia, raised lipoprotein (a) levels] 5 .Severaloftheseriskfactorsresultinaccelerated atherosclerosis, thereby leading to the increased prevalence of CVD. Most patients of CKD die of CVD rather than due to kidney failure 6 . Early interventions at correcting many of these risk factors may help decrease the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with CKD 7 . To the best of our knowledge, no study from Nepal has looked into various CVD risk factors in patients with CKD. The present pilot study was done to evaluate the prevalence of various CVD risk factors in CKD patients inNepal. Material and methods This study was conducted in the Renal Disease Prevention Clinicofthemedicalout-patientdepartmentofB.P.Koirala InstituteofHealthSciences,Dharan,Nepal. Itwasanested case control study. The study included 42 cases of CKD and 42 controls. Patients were enrolled by convenient sampling technique. CKD (case) was defined and staged as per the National Kidney Foundation – K/DOQI